If the person is finding it hard to stand up, you need a riser recliner, not a standard electric recliner. Both use a motor, but only the riser adds a second one that tilts the whole chair forward and brings the user almost to standing. Get the seat height right, allow clearance behind the chair unless it is a wall-hugger, and check whether it has a battery backup. In our showrooms, eight out of ten older customers who came in for a recliner left having chosen a riser.
Should you buy an electric recliner or a riser recliner?
This is the question we answer most often on the shop floor, and most people arrive not knowing there is a difference.
A standard electric recliner lowers the backrest and raises the footrest at the touch of a button. You still get in and out of it the way you would any armchair. A riser recliner does all of that and adds a second motor that lifts and tilts the entire frame forward, so the chair takes the person's weight until they are almost upright.
That second motor is the whole point. If standing up unaided is already difficult, a standard electric recliner solves nothing — it just makes sitting more comfortable.
Here is what we see in the showroom, and it is the single most useful thing in this guide: roughly eight out of ten older customers who walk in asking for a recliner end up buying a riser recliner instead, once they have tried both. That figure is not from a survey. It is what our sales team observes across a typical year, and we are stating it as an in-store observation rather than a measured statistic.
A riser costs more. Our view, after 45 years of selling both, is that for anyone with real difficulty standing it is the better purchase, and the price gap stops mattering the first week.
How do you choose the right seat height?
Seat height is the measurement that decides whether the chair works, and it is the one most people never take.
Measure from the floor to the back of the user's knee while they are sitting with their feet flat. The top of the seat cushion should sit at roughly that height.
- Too high, and their feet dangle, which cuts circulation and makes the lift mechanism push them forward rather than up.
- Too low, and the chair has to do more work to get them upright, which defeats the purpose.
- The user should be able to sit with hips and knees at about the same level.
Chair width matters too, but less than people expect: a seat that is too wide gives the arms nothing to push against.
How much space does a riser recliner need behind it?
A conventional recliner needs clearance between the back of the chair and the wall to open fully. A wall-hugger model slides forward as it reclines and works in a fraction of that space.
If the chair is going into a small sitting room, or into a spot where it has to sit against the wall, this is the specification to check before anything else. It is also the one most online listings bury at the bottom of the technical sheet.
What happens if the power goes out?
The motor holds the chair wherever it was when the electricity failed. If the user is reclined at that moment and cannot get up on their own, that is a genuine problem, not an inconvenience.
Models with a battery backup return the seat to the upright position on two 9V batteries. If the chair is for someone who spends time alone in the house, this is not an optional extra. It is the reason to pick one model over another, and we would tell anyone buying without it to reconsider.
Which type of chair suits which situation?
| Standard electric recliner | Riser recliner | Bariatric riser recliner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the motor does | Reclines the back, raises the footrest | Reclines, plus tilts the whole frame forward | Same as riser, on a reinforced frame |
| Who it suits | Comfort, no mobility difficulty | Difficulty standing unaided | Difficulty standing, above standard weight limits |
| Clearance behind | Needed, unless wall-hugger | Needed, unless wall-hugger | Usually more |
| Battery backup | Model-dependent | Model-dependent, strongly recommended | Model-dependent |
| Relative price | Baseline | Higher | Highest |
Can you buy a riser recliner online without sitting in it first?
Most people buying these chairs are not the people sitting in them. In our experience the order is usually placed by a son or a daughter, because the process is awkward for an older person to do alone.
That makes buying blind more common than it should be, and it is why our return policy exists: 14 days from delivery to send it back if it is not right.
Two things worth knowing about how that plays out. First, we have not had a riser recliner returned in the past year, and the same was true the year before. Second, we would still rather you came into one of our showrooms and sat in one, and we say that knowing it costs us online orders.
There is a customer we think about whenever this comes up. He arrived certain he wanted a standard recliner and would not hear about anything else. After a good while trying the standard models, he agreed to sit in a riser — and once he felt how easily he could get back on his feet, he asked us to deliver the display model rather than wait for a new one to come in from the supplier.
Who delivers it, and what happens to the packaging?
We deliver our own furniture with our own drivers. That is not a detail we mention for the sake of it.
Most buying guides tell you to measure your doorways and your stairwell because access is the most common cause of a failed delivery. That is true when the retailer hands the chair to a courier. It has not been our experience: we have not had a delivery we could not complete, doorway or otherwise, because our drivers know the chairs and solve it on the spot.
- Delivery is free in Donegal, Derry and Tyrone.
- Assembly is included where the chair needs it.
- All packaging is removed and taken away at no charge.
- The drivers place the chair where it is going to live, not inside the front door.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best recliner chair on the market for the elderly?
There isn't one. The right chair is decided by the user's seat height, their weight, how much difficulty they have standing, and how much space sits behind the chair. A model that suits a 5'2" user in a small sitting room will be wrong for a 6'1" user in a large one.
Which brand of recliner chair is best?
Brand matters less than mechanism and fit. What we would compare instead is who services the chair when the motor fails, how long parts take to arrive, and whether you can sit in the model before committing. Those three differ far more between retailers than the chairs themselves do between brands.
What are the downsides of owning a recliner chair?
They need clearance behind them unless they are wall-huggers, the motor is a moving part that can fail, and a chair that fits the room but not the person gets used less than a cheaper one that fits properly.
Can I try one before I buy?
Yes, in either showroom. If you are buying for a parent, bring them. Ten minutes sitting in the chair tells you more about seat height and back firmness than any specification sheet.
What happens if it arrives and it isn't right?
You have 14 days from delivery to return it.
Do I need a power socket nearby?
Yes. The chair plugs into a standard socket. If the chair is for someone who spends time alone, choose a model with battery backup so the seat can be returned upright during a power cut.
Product photography shows chairs from our own range. Room settings are composed.
Written by Maria Castillo, Website Manager at Foy & Company. Foy & Company has been selling furniture in Co. Donegal since 1981, with showrooms in Ballybofey and Letterkenny. Questions about measurements or models: call either showroom or ask at the front desk.